Will Kenny Sebastian please stand up!
KOCHI: His comedic references turn the most banal of everyday events into the funniest. And, he’s armed with a guitar which makes for devastating evidence of talent accompaniment. Kenneth Sebastian is unarguably one of the most successful stand-up comedians in the country today.
However, all this was never foreseen by the Bangalore-based Malayali, who says he’s an accidental comedian. Crashing into the big scene with over 500 performances in the last five years, Kenny reverts to Kochi this Saturday at JT Pac, Trippunithura. Excerpts from the catching up time before the show:
l‘Don’t be that guy’. That guy sure seems interesting! Could you tell us a bit more about the show?
The show is a brand new one hour set of jokes that I have been working on for the past 6 months. It is a mix of my frustrations on turning 26 and how most of ‘life’ still doesn’t make sense.
lHow has it been performing in Kochi? You’ve been here before.
Kochi is always exciting for me since I am from Kerala. Sadly most comedians in India avoid it, as it’s the toughest city to sell tickets in. Chennai has a booming comedy scene and we sell 1200 tickets in a day while Kochi takes 2 months for half the seats! But that doesn’t stop us from coming to Kochi more and make the locals aware of stand ups’ existence. I hope aspiring comedians take the matter into their own hands and develop a scene here so more of us can perform here and not make a loss since tickets are hard to sell.
lHow did the Youtube series ‘Star Boyz’ (with a ‘z’!) happen?
Star boyz has always been a childhood dream. It was just an excuse for me to wear a fun costume and sit in a spaceship. It ended up getting a huge cult fan following in south India. We are working on season 2.
lWhat makes it difficult to be a comedian in India?
There are so many factors that go into being a comedian in India. Live production and video production become nightmares in India if you don’t have the right support. The censorship with regard to content, the unprofessionalism that comes with payments as a freelancer and society pressure make it quite a challenge.